Indonesian military plane crashes with 109 onboard, at least 98 dead

The burning wreckage of the Hercules was scattered in a rice paddy near Magetan, East Java, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) east of Yogyakarta.

"The death toll has risen to 98 people," air force spokesman Bambang Sulistio told AFP as soldiers and rescue workers continued to search the charred debris for human remains.

Military spokesman Sagom Tamboen said that the aging C-130 Hercules was transporting troops and their families, including at least 10 children, when it tumbled from the sky near an air force base in East Java.

It slammed into several houses in Geplak village, killing three on the ground, and then skidded into a rice field. The plane's charred tail and several chunks of its wing and body were scattered in the paddy. 

It was not clear what caused the crash.

But air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo said the plane was nearly 30 years old and several witnesses described seeing its right wing fall off while it was still in the air, AP reported.

"I heard at least two big explosions and saw flashes of fire inside the plane," said Lamidi, a 41-year-old peasant who was working in his rice field. "The wing snapped off and fell to the ground."

Sulistyo said the plane was carrying 109 passengers and crew when it went down 325 miles (520 kilometers) east of the capital, Jakarta.

The country’s air force has long complained of being under funded and handicapped by a recently lifted U.S. ban on weapons sales. It has suffered a series of accidents, including a C-130 last month that prompted officials to carry out an investigation into its aging fleet.

The air force has operated C-130s since the early 1960s, when it received the batch of 10 in exchange for the release of a CIA bomber pilot shot down in 1958 while supporting an anti-government mutiny.

About 40 of the planes, considered the backbone of the transport wing, were inducted into the air force inventory over the next 20 years. Many were secondhand machines provided as military aid by the United States.

After the Clinton administration introduced sanctions on military deliveries following the bloodshed in East Timor in 1999, however, the air force complained that many of the planes quickly became unserviceable because of the lack of spare parts.

A number were reportedly cannibalized for parts and - although the embargo was lifted by the Bush administration - it remains unclear how many are airworthy now.